


Hold Me

by Tormented_Gale



Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: AU, M/M, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-24
Updated: 2014-10-24
Packaged: 2018-02-22 09:42:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2503262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tormented_Gale/pseuds/Tormented_Gale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes a promise must be broken.</p><p>Tumblr Prompt: “Hold Me” by Savage Garden (Sync x Asch)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hold Me

_It’s nothing but bodies - bodies everywhere. Bodies fighting, bodies dying, bodies singing, bodies crying. Chances to live, chances to die, and chances to lose a soul and gain a memory. It becomes second nature to not think, to breathe adrenaline and deal out the killing blow, because when it comes down to it, no one is safe, and everyone will die._

_They stand face to face, light green meeting dark, lips parted on both sides but neither speaking the words desperate to be spoken. They simply stare for a moment, hands at their sides, one holding a bloodied sword, the other’s fingers stained with more crimson. He wants to tell the other that they should hide, that the fight should continue without them, that they aren’t needed here - they need each other._

_But neither speaks. It’s a rule, and the silence is deafening, but they both instinctively know one thing:_

_Neither of them is allowed to die._

"Asch, stay awake." Sync stumbled lightly, his legs shaking and body on the verge of collapse, but he still managed to put one foot in front of the other. He was rather impressed with himself; few with wounds like his would be able to manage this feat.

"C’mon - wake up. There’s no falling asleep on the job."

He heard the soft groaning of the other practically hanging off his shoulders, red hair hiding Asch’s face from view. The strands looked darker, or was that just the fading light of the sun? It took too much extra effort to consider such things, so Sync reassigned himself to the current task. Step, step, step. Breathe. Hoist Asch up higher. Step. Breathe. Repeat. One foot - one more…

The cave - he had no idea where he was anymore and didn’t care - was a godsend. He practically dragged Asch inside and as gently as he could lay the other against the wall. The soft  _drip, drip_ of a small spring further in lightened his spirits even though Asch barely stirred at the cool stone pressing to his neck.

Sync dragged himself to the stream and gulped down handfuls of the clean water, then he dipped a part of his sleeve into the water and tore it free. The trek back to Asch was almost as hard as walking here, but he managed it, and placed the fabric over the other’s forehead.

"Asch?" he whispered as he flopped down next to the other. The silence - the awful, horrible silence - was so much louder than the harsh breaths they both gave as they fought for consciousness.

"I don’t know what to do," Sync admitted out loud if for no other reason than to break the monotony of Asch’s breaths. If he closed his eyes, he could pretend they lay side by side in bed, holding hands and breathing normally, not bleeding out in some godforsaken cave.

"Maybe I should pray. Lorelei favors you - it might work." He tilted his head to the side so he could see Asch’s pale face. The redhead’s lips were bloodless, though they were still slightly parted and breaths escaped them, the tiniest puff of air. Sync reached out dizzily for Asch’s cheek and rubbed the dirt away, smearing that beautiful skin with dried blood. They were beyond prayers. Miracles didn’t exist - the world was cruel and unforgiving. This would be no different.

When had they stopped living the joy in their lives? When had it all deteriorated to the next fight, the next war? When had desperation faded to apathetic indifference? Sync gently brushed his thumb across Asch’s eyelashes, wanting those eyes to open, wanting to see the vivid determination.

"Please wake up," he whispered. "I can’t - I’ll… it’ll all fall apart without you there."

He gathered Asch in his arms and leaned his own upper back against the stone wall behind him. His knee and arm supported Asch’s upper back, the other’s forehead pressed into Sync’s shoulder. If he studied the pale face, he could remember the lips pulled into a bright, welcoming smile. He could see the moments of happiness in the laugh lines, the worries in the creases on Asch’s forehead, the softness in the slight crow’s feet surrounding those eyes.

"Can you see the stars?" he gasped as the sun faded into obscurity, just as surely he and Asch would. "Is it bright where you are, without this constant warfare? Are you safe? Or are you - "

There are still breaths, still movements, but Sync knows - and that knowledge - he can’t face it. There is no truth here - there’s only loss and pain, a bitterness and jealousy and hatred towards all who will never feel as Sync does, as Asch must.

"I wish you could hold me - I think I’m breaking apart," Sync said as his own eyes slipped closed and he let his head rest against the cool stone. "I guess… I’ll have to be the one to hold you."

So he gathered Asch closer as darkness descended upon the world, unable to stand face to face with the other, unable to accept the broken promise.


End file.
